We’ve got another explosive story for you today here at the Underground Bunker. It’s the first portion of a videotaped deposition former Church of Scientology executive Mark “Marty” Rathbun sat for last month in a federal fraud lawsuit against the church.

Rathbun spent 27 years in Scientology and was its “inspector general for ethics,” the second-highest ranking official in the organization. He was known as a ruthlessly effective enforcer who then became disaffected and left the group in 2004. Today, he’s considered one of the biggest threats to Scientology’s continued existence, and on December 22, for the first time since his defection, he sat for a deposition and was questioned by the church’s own attorneys.

It was a combative showdown.

There’s a lot to consider in what occurs as Scientology attorney Bert Deixler questions Rathbun, but first we’ll remind you why Rathbun found himself in the hot seat.

In January 2013 Luis and Rocio Garcia of Irvine, California filed suit against the Church of Scientology for fraud, alleging that they were lied to in order to convince them to donate hundreds of thousands of dollars to the organization’s various initiatives. An evidentiary hearing in the lawsuit is scheduled for February 18 to hear Scientology’s motion to compel the Garcias to submit their claims to the church’s own internal arbitration and dismiss the lawsuit from civil court.

Judge James D. Whittemore has been very carefully setting up this hearing. He’s asked both sides to submit evidence about the nature of Scientology’s internal arbitration procedures. And witnesses on both sides have been scheduled for depositions.

The point of these depositions is to produce evidence that would help Judge Whittemore decide whether Scientology has a legitimate arbitration scheme and whether the Garcias should be forced to use it (former executives like Rathbun and Mike Rinder say Scientology’s arbitration is a sham and doesn’t really exist).
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What are the odds that the 1993 handwritten document that he refused to read is his OW write-up where he confessed to all kinds of crimes and illegal activity? (As well as the usual sex garbage like masturbation and random sordid crap that all good Scinos admit to.)

i hope (and iam sure) there is happyend to this story. Me thinks Marty was expecting this... and knows how to play with them.... there is moment where his lawyer says " you do not have to answer this", but Marty jumps and answers....some of members can dislike Marty,but that don't makes him stupid....:wink2:

Part 2 will be great,also I hope later Rinders will be out too.... and then HBO, and then.............
what a great year.....

What are the odds that the 1993 handwritten document that he refused to read is his OW write-up where he confessed to all kinds of crimes and illegal activity? (As well as the usual sex garbage like masturbation and random sordid crap that all good Scinos admit to.)

is it right that they ask him to read that into the record?

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1993 is when Rathbun left Scientology for 9 days, only to be coaxed back. Earier in the testimony, I thought Marty did a pretty good job of handling the Co$ lawyer on this issue. Perhaps with the letter, this lawyer is just trying again to 'get at' Marty on something related to this topic (?).

1993 is when Rathbun left Scientology for 9 days, only to be coaxed back. Earier in the testimony, I thought Marty did a pretty good job of handling the Co$ lawyer on this issue. Perhaps with the letter, this lawyer is just trying again to 'get at' Marty on something related to this topic (?).

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Yes. Leaving for nine days and then coming back would definitely have required him to do lower conditions and to "come clean" of all his nasty deeds. This write-up is being used to try to shame him in public, which was always the intent of the Hub.

Marty has done an excellent job so far. The ending leaves it up in the air whether the cult attorney is going to email or fax over a copy of that letter to Babbitt or be will file a request for ruling with the out in opposition. The letter that they want Marty to read ( which he refuses to as it is not applicable ) is one that Marty admits he wrote. FYI, just in case readers don't know how these depositions work and how refusals to answer result in a request to a judge for ruling, here is my exchange with DodoThe Laser in the comments to the article..

DodoTheLaser • 5 hours ago

Deposition is just like a Sec Check without an E-Meter, it seems.

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Mary_McConnell DodoTheLaser • 11 minutes ago

So true. The attorneys can ask anything and the deposed person has to answer or obtain a judge's ruling on a contested question, which is costly and time consuming. If a ruling is not obtained, the deposed can face contempt of court charges for not answering. Often, attorneys use these depositions as fishing expeditions. I'm surprised Marty didn't not obtain an attorney to represent himself, to get the scope of the deposition specifically narrowed down and in writing in an amended subpoena, before the deposition date.

Technically, Ted Babbitt does not represent Marty and so he cannot act on his behalf and he cannot file for a ruling on this matter on Marty's behalf. The request for ruling would have to be on behalf of and for the benefit of the the Garcias.This is where a personal attorney would have come in handy for Marty, to argue and file on Marty's behalf the request to the judge if necessary. However, I suspect they all worked this out to avoid having to obtain a ruling because it would mean another hearing with the judge ( which Marty or his own attorney would have to appear ) and for the cult attorney there being a possibility of the judge narrowing the scope down so well to the issue of the refund/repayment policies that they would wind up not getting anything else out of Marty.
I can't wait for the rest of the deposition videos to see how that all went down ( and to hear more from Marty )

I saw all of it, somewhat fascinated by it really.
Apart from the rather obvious wordsmith games going on and the sheer seriousness of it I felt disgusted I signed up and gave my loyalty (albeit time machined) to those types who play those games in lieu of any integrity for life and those whose lives are directly affected by their actions. Don't forget Marty (sorry Mark) played the same sort of games against good willed people who honestly didn't deserve it and couldn't fight back like he's been trained or per this video now shows he obviously has the natural ability and desire to be like that. It demonstrates what he was actually like when he was in power. He was the trusted go to man for miscavige for many years.
Big eye opener on the quality and reality of leadership present in the hey day of corporate $cn - no wonder they are in world of shit right now. Good riddance to all of them - they deserve the same compassion as any squished cockroach would get.

My take away from part one was - what the hell does this have to do with the Luis Garcia case?

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Anything at all they could spin to help discredit Marty.

Deixler really tried hard to get Marty to read that letter (I assume it's an O/W write-up too) into the record. Deixler must have known how easy it would have been to fax/email Babbitt a copy beforehand. What's the betting the Dwarf had really pushed him to get Marty to do that?

Let's assume it is an O/W write up where Marty fesses up to having some evil intentions, or overts - still what do they have to do with the instant case? To me it seems reckless, why risk sanctions in the Garcia case by improper deposition questioning? Unless he truly A) believes he will win the Garcia case or B) doesn't care if he loses - what will it cost him? Nothing to a man who sits on a billion or more in assets, stashed cash. The interest on all of the SO reserve accounts could cover Luis's case with a minor blip in the day's activities.

Deixler really tried hard to get Marty to read that letter (I assume it's an O/W write-up too) into the record. Deixler must have known how easy it would have been to fax/email Babbitt a copy beforehand. What's the betting the Dwarf had really pushed him to get Marty to do that?

. . .
What a horrible way to spend one's latter years . . . endless lawyers, depositions, court cases.
I guess Marty got in with the wrong crowd. That's all I can say. And now he's payin' for it.

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At some level, I would assume that Marty quite enjoys getting back in the ring to tangle with a worthy opponent Dave "The Mauler" Miscavige. It's a battle of wits and strategy and force.

ASSESSING THE FIGHTERS:

Miscavige has endless attorneys, a limitless budget and the willingness to lie or cheat the legal system.

Rathbun has truth. And a blazing fast mind with wicked strategic chess moves. And a titanium chin--dude cannot be knocked out. ​

PREDICTING THE ENDING:
Rathbun by a unanimous decision. No knockouts. But another ending is also possible because under pressure Miscavige has been known to cave in and run (quitting on his stool between rounds as he did vs Debbie Cook).

The only thing Miscavige and Hubbard ever really had going for them was their willingness to lie and terrorize people. In the past ten years, Scientology has completely lost their ability to terrorize others so all they have left is lying. In a court they will ultimately lose their ability to lie as well. This is end times (aka "good times" lol)

Scientology was very quick to use this deposition for an unrelated matter by writing a letter to Gibney and HBO which "revealed some of the things he had said" in the deposition. Is this and the "leaking" of the video illegal?

and graduate-level schooled in the #1 breakthrough administrative science of the past 50 years.

Not to even mention being Tom Cruise's auditor, EO and handler . . . .

Besmirching or attempting to defame Marty, sorry . . . Mark, would be like the Apple CEO Tim Cook laying into the top product manager and engineer of the previous five iPhone versions in a public venue.